Secondary education in Poland18 years of changes

Fourth ECA Education ConferenceTirana, October 24-26, 2007

Jerzy WiśniewskiCASE – Center for Social and Economic Research

345

0 6I 7II 8III 9IV 10V 11VI 12VII 13VIII 14

I 15II 16III 17

IV 18

V 19

pre-school education

"zero" class

primary school

General second.

Vocation. Second.

Basic vocat.

The school education system 1989

Centralised system

  curricula and teaching programmes

textbooks and other teaching aids

  rules for recruitment of pupils to schools,

  the school network,

classification of occupations

  rules for awarding titles and diplomas

Vocational schools

• Industry – part of state-owned enterprises

• Agriculture – run by the Ministry of Agriculture

• Crafts – Associations, organizations of craftsmen

Distribution of students in secondary schools %

15 1821,5

30,5

63,5

51,5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1972 1986

Secondary general education Secondary vocational Basic vocational

Changes in VET after 1989

• Enterprises refused to finance works-based schools

• taken over by the educational authorities

• no longer guarantee life-long employment in one state-owned enterprise

• employers not involved

• slow introduction of counselling and guidance

Modernisation of VET after 1989

Efforts of the Ministry of National Education:  changes in curricula - promoting entrepreneurship; introducing foreign languages (difficult due to the

shortage of teachers);  introducing the subject „Elements of Informatics”;  76 independently developed curricula  work on curricular documentation for the new

classification of occupations.

23%

30%

43%

32%34%38%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

1990/1991 1995/1996

General secondary basic vocational secondary vocational

Students in secondary schools %

Students in higher education

0200400600800

10001200140016001800

1990 1995 2000

thou

sand

s

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

perc

ent

number of students net enrolment rate

The reform of 1998 - 1999

new structure of the school system;

a curricular reform - the introduction of core curricula;

the assessment and examination system;

governance and supervision

the financing of schools;

teachers promotion paths and the new system of remuneration.

The school education system proposed by the reform of 1998 345

0 6I 7II 8III 9IV 10V 11VI 12

I 13II 14III 15

I 16II 17III 18

IV 19

Basic vocat.

Pre-school education

"zero" class

primary school

Lower secondary Gymnasium

General second. (profiled)

80% 20%

23%

30%34%

43%

32%

27%

34%38% 39%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

1990/1991 1995/1996 1998/1999

General secondary basic vocational secondary vocational

Students in secondary schools %

External examinations

Common compulsory tests

• at the end of the primary school

• at the end of the gymnasium.

• the maturity examination upon completion of education in the lyceum.

central examination board and regional examination boards

‘Correction’ of the reform (2001)

The first decisions of the Government

• delay for 3 years of the introduction ‘new matura’

• structure of the upper secondary education - (technika) would survive

The structure of the school education introduced in 2001 345

0 6I 7II 8III 9IV 10V 11VI 12

I 13II 14III 15

I 16II 17III 18

IV 19

Pre-school education

"zero" class

primary school

Lower secondary Gymnasium

General second.

Second. vocat.

Basic vocat.

Profiled lyceum

PISA 2000, 2003

2000 2003

average 479 497

less than 400 21.4% 15%

more than 600 10.6% 13.7%

variance within schools 63% 83.3%

PISA 2000

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

General secondary Secondaryvocational

Basic vocational POLAND

perc

ent

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

poin

ts (5

00 -

OE

CD

ave

rage

)

Percentage of the students with the score below 400

Percentage of the students the score beyond 600

Average student score (points)

23%

30%

34%

41% 42%43%

32%

27%

15%12%

34%

38%39%

45%46%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

1990/1991 1995/1996 1998/1999 2002/2003 2003/2004

General secondary basic vocational secondary vocational

Students in (upper) secondary schools %

Number of students

0

500

1 000

1 500

2 000

2 500

3 000

3 500

1990/1991 1995/1996 1998/1999 2002/2003 2003/2004

General secondary basic vocational secondary vocational

post-secondary Schools for adults

New ‘Matura’ the backbone of the reform

• External examinations

• objective tool for the evaluation of student's and school achievements

• quality assurance

Percentage of passed Matura (types of schools)

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2005 2006 2007

General Profiled Vocational

What next?

• General secondary– quality and relevance of tertiary education

• Profiled general secondary schools– qualifications needed on the labour market

• basic vocational schools– short-, long-term perspective

• technical secondary schools